■»S£CtS^'j
I
I)-voted to Agriculture, Horticulture, mechanics and the tJsclul Arts.
D. P. 1Ioli.ow.iv Wm. T. j
De.-iN.s, It. T. ll£x.v—Edits is.\
RICHMOND, ?JULY 15,1850.
tllolloway & Co., Publishers.
j Vol. V. No.   14.
Terms of the Indiana Farmer.
ItTrAYMEXT TO BK HADK INVARIABLY IS ADVANCE.  O.
One copy, per,volume, ..* $1 00
Four topics, .'..*..  .*. 3 00
Nine,    •' *6 00
Anil any larger number at the latter rates. Hills of all
specie paying Banks and postage stumps received atpar.
Subscription money, properly eudorsed. may l-.e mailed at
our risk.   Address HOLLOWAY & CO.,
Iticlirnond, Wayne county, Indiana.
Terms of Advertising.
Advertisements will be inserted in this sheet for five cents
per line for thc first insertion, and three cents per line for
each subsequent insertion.
Indian Corn or Maize.
More than three millions of acres of land
are, or will be planted with corn, in the three
States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Michigan, in
this month of May, 1856. If. the season is
favorable, and the prices are good, the crop
on this land will be worth towards one hundred millions of dollars ; or if fed to stock at
home, it will be worth even more to the growers. It has occurred to us, that while our
fanners are getting hi their corn, and tending it, they would be pleased to learn a few
facts in regard to the quantity raised, and the
extent to which it ministers to the substance
and comfort of man.
The com crop of Ohio, for the year 1S49,
was, according to the census of 1850, 59,000-
000 bushels ;. of Kentucky, 58,000,000 ; and
of Michigan, 5,000,000. For the same year
the crop in the whole country was, 592,000,-
000 bushels. At the great Fair of last October, Edward Everett estimated the corn
crop of 1855, at fifteen hundred millions,
(1,500,000,000) of bushels. Comparing these
figures with the statistics of wheat and cotton, we learn that the corn crop of the country was, in 1849, worth more than twice as
much as the wheat crop for the same year,
and about four times as much as the cotton
crop for the same year.. Considering the low
price it commands, it probably furnishes more
nutriment to man and beast, than any other
cereal grown in America. And if the money
value of the crop is a criterion by which to
judge of its importance, the corn crop is a
more important one than either wheat or cotton.
ORIGIN AND SPREAD OP ITS CULTURE.
Maize is considered to be an American
cfreal, having been cultivated in Mexico, and
Peru, from lime immemorial. It was introduced into Europe soon after the discovery
of America, and into England in 15C2.—
Though its culture has never been extensive
in England, it has spread over a large portion of world. It is cultivated on the continent as far north as thc 49th degree of latitude. All along the Mediterranean, in
Spain, Italy and Turkey, it is the most
common food in use. It is cultivated much
in Africa and Asia. A foreign Review remarks in substance that, "next to rice, it feeds
more, men than any other grain, and that it
is thc most valuable gifts of the next new
world to man." It has several excellencies
which make it a general favorite. It is hardy. It adapts itself to almost every climate,
from the equator to the 50th degree of latitude. It requires no great skill to cultivate
it. ■ The savages of the Western continent
raise it. The polished Aztec raised it. Thc
negroes of Western Africa raise it. It is
prolific, too, yielding well on almost every
soil. It has a multitude of uses, as food for
man, and for almost every animal he rears.
Moreover, it is consumed to a frightful ex-
tc it in the manufacture of whisky. It furnishes a large portion of the alcohol used in
our lamps. ? Large quantities of it are made
into starch and farina; and ever}- year new
uses of the grain itself or ofthe chemical
elements elaborated from it, are coming into
notice. The corn-grower, therefore, is no
unimpor'ait personage. For the crop ho
grows si pports alarge portion of the human
race, ana has a higher commercial value
than that of the wheat crop and cotton crop
taken together.
ygmsm*-
IVliat may be Done with a Poor
Orchard. 1
- We condense from the experience of a
friend, whose whole statement would occupy more space tliaii we can give. The following may be relied on as entirely accurate:
Five years ago, he purchased an orchard
containing 23 trees. They had never borne
much, having been planted but a few years.
Their treatment had been miserable. Cows
and horses had been pastured in the orchard.
3Iore than one quarter of the trees had been
bruised or bent, so that it seemed that they
must die. The rest had been left unpruned,
the suckers were growing from their roots',
and large scars where the bark had been
torn off by the horns. of cattle, disfigured
many of them. The insects, too, had held Jl
carnival among. them. Apple borers had -Hjj-
pierced their trunks; caterpillars had spun *»
their webs from year to year in their branch^ *14
es; and ants,  whose  hills  had  multiplied k. J